Heartstruck
by Animgal12345
Summary: When it comes to Valentine's Day, Jayden just can't get it easy.


A/N: Surprise, back at it again with the Power Rangers Samurai. And once again, its about everyone's favorite angsty red ranger and grumpy half-nighlok. Hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

Valentine's day wasn't a day Jayden cared much for.

He may have had his friends for company, but love and relationships other than friendship were things he never had time for.

It was no surprise to the rangers when a nighlok attacked that day. What also didn't surprise them was the fact that the nighlok was love themed. The creature was a horrendous shade of pink and had heart shaped flowers and thorny vines all over it's body. It introduced itself as Heartvine and attacked them right away. It was the usual battle, Heartvine called moogers to attack and the rangers fought them. It began unusual when Heartvine released a pink beam from a large flower on its chest. The other rangers managed to dodge it in time, but Jayden wasn't fast enough.

The blast threw him back, but other than the pain from landing, he felt fine. Just as he got up, Heartvine and the moogers disappeared back into the Nighlok world. Confused, all the rangers could do was return home and try to figure out what Heartvine's power was.

When they returned home, Ji asked about the battle and then Jayden how he felt. Jayden answered explained he felt no different then before the blast. Concerned about lack of side effects, Ji said he would look up what he could about Heartvine and that Jayden should take it easy in the meantime. As he began to turn away, Ji paused and looked back at the rangers.

"Also in the meantime, You are all free to enjoy the day however you please. Happy Valentine's Day," he said and left with another word.

Emily, Mike, and Antonio cheered while the others smiled at the chance for freetime. The group went off to the city to enjoy themselves. Lauren even showed up to hang out with them for the day. They all went around looking at shops and playing games at the arcade. And the whole time, Jayden felt fine. It wasn't until they had sat down to eat lunch that the effects of the beam began.

They were sitting outside at a fast food shop and talking about love and relationships. Emily and Mike kept looking at one another the whole time they spoke about crushes and such. Mia gushed over romance and true love, while Antonio spoke about past dates he had gone on. Even Kevin admitted to crushes he had in the past, but never acted on. Finally, the focus settled on Jayden.

"So what about you Jayden, anyone ever catch your eye?" Emily teased with a smile. Jayden couldn't help but smile back and shook his head.

"No, romance wasn't something i really could focus on, training was all i really could think about. Antonio was actually the only one who lead me astray from that," Jayden replied. Antonio gave out a short laugh and clapped him on the shoulder.

"So what about now?" Mia asked. In his mind, Jayden saw a face appeared. Jayden opened his mouth to say no, but was cut off when the urge to cough appeared suddenly. As he coughed, he could feel something moving up his throat and into his mouth. Coughing harder, Jayden's eyes widen in surprise as soft white objects fell into his hands. The others leapt up in concern for their friend and gasped when the objects appeared. More and more of them fell out of his mouth with every cough. Finally, his coughing fit had settled and he was free to study the content in his hands. It took him only a second to realize what they were.

"Are those... flower petals?" Kevin asked from his position across the table. Jayden nodded with shock. Dozens of medium sized white petals laid in his hands. Looking up to the others, he could see they were all thinking the same thing.

"I think we need to talk to Ji," he whispered in a hoarse voice.

* * *

Ji was in the sitting area reading a book when the rangers walked in. A frown formed on his face the moment he saw the worried expressions they wore. The frown deepened even more when Jayden showed him the petals and told him what happened.

"I see, well i have some good news and bad news for you concerning this," Ji said once Jayden was done.

"Good news then bad news?" Mike asked. Ji waved them all to take a seat before he spoke once more.

"The good news is that I know why the flowers are appearing, the bad news is that I can't fix it," he explained once they were seated. "You see, Heartvine's beam causes flowers to manifest in the lungs of it's victims, but only if the victims are in love with another. The flowers that form reflect the love that their host holds for the person."

"Kinda like hanahaki disease?" Mia asked. At the looks of confusion on the other's faces, she continued. "Its this fictional disease where flowers form inside of a person who's in love. It's really popular with people on the internet. Its also known as the unrequited love disease as the person is suppose to being suffering from unrequited love," At the alarmed expression that appeared on Jayden's face, she quickly added "but people usually have it so that after the two people admits their love for one another, the disease go away!"

"Well then, it seems that this is indeed much like this hanahaki disease. It says that there are two ways to get rid out the effects. One is to have Heartvine undo the spell, another is most likely defeat Heartvine, or, finally, for the victim to have the object of their desire return their feelings," Ji said. At the thought of the second option occurring, Jayden began to cough up flower petals once more. Everyone began to make their way towards him before he held up a hand for them to stop. He coughed for a moment before looking up at Ji once more.

"What-," Jayden gasped before pausing to take in some deep breathes, "What happens if they don't return my feelings or we can't reverse this?" At the sight a frown making its reappearance on Ji's face, Jayden knew the answer before he spoke.

"You'll die."

* * *

It was not even an hour later when the Nighlok alarm went off. The rangers wasted no time run off in hopes of destroying Heartvine and breaking this spell. Within seconds of them finding Heartvine, all the rangers were separated from each other. Jayden was left to face Heartvine alone while the others were forced to fight moogers if they wanted to get anywhere near the pair, though with the amount of moogers that keep appearing out of cracks in the surrounding area, they wouldn't be join them any time soon.

Jayden and Heartvine kept their distance from each other, circling around before running up and trades blows before moving back once more to repeat the process once more. They continued to do this until finally Heartvine spoke.

"Tell me Red ranger, have you experienced the effects of my power yet?" Heartvine asked with in an annoyingly shrill voice. Jayden kept silence, not wanting to give the nighlok any satisfaction in his suffering. "Don't want to talk? Doesn't matter, I know its effects took hold, its my power after all. So tell me what kind of flower is it? Rose? Tulip? Daisy? I do hope they're not daffodils. That would be very bad for you." Jayden's movement slowed as he thought about it. "You do know what daffodils mean right? Unrequited love." Jayden froze at that before shaking it off and moving to strike. Heartvine blocked his attack and laughed, easily pushing him back. "So, not even the red ranger is resistant to love. Tell me now, who are they? No, no let me guess. Perhaps a civilian you met and saved from an attack?"

A image popped up in Jayden's mind, showing the first time he saw them. He could feel the telling tickle at the back of his throat appear.

"No, you would never allow yourself to fall for someone like that. Then perhaps its someone who knows who you are, maybe an ally?"

He could feel something begin to push the inside of his throat as another image appeared, he could feel his hands begin to shake slightly.

"Now, this person would have to know how to defend themselves, i'm sure that they must know their way around a sword."

His lungs began to burn at the lack of oxygen, the image of a blade glistering in the light as the person faced off with their enemies. They looked so incredible.

"You would be the type to fall in love with a warrior would you? Tell me are they one of the other rangers? Have you have had the pleasure of facing them yourself?"

He could practically hear the sound their sword made that day as they fought and feel the fire burning in his heart like it did then. The strength of the memory sent Jayden to his knees, unmorphing in the process. He could barely hear the cries of the others over the sound of his body trying to get the same white petals as before out of his throat. No matter how much fell out, he could still feel more coming up. The sound of Heartvine laughing above him made the pain even worse.

"I almost feel sorry for you, seeing you suffering so much. But then i remember that you're our enemy and we feed on your suffering," it laughed.

"ENOUGH!" the shout of a familiar female voice called out from behind them. Jayden didn't even need to look up to know that Dayu was the one who shouted. He could hear her and another approach and standing in front of him along side Heartvine. "Enough wasting time, just hit the other rangers with the beam and we'll be rid of them once and for all."

"Unfortunately, even if i hit them with the beam, unlike this one, they would actually admit their feelings and break the spell. He on the other hand would be more willing to die than admit his feelings. So the only way he's going to survive this is if they somehow manage to defeat me, but without their precious red ranger they have no chance," Heartvine began laughing once more. The other person with the two nighloks huffed.

"Are you forgetting the fact that he has a sister who can be the red ranger as well?" the person asked. The voice surprised Jayden, causing he to jerk his head up to see Deker in his nighlok form standing before him. The half-nighlok turned his head to look down at his fallen enemy before looking away once more. It was then Jayden fell something large appear in his throat. Ignoring whatever Heartvine's reply was, Jayden carefully slipped his still trembling fingers into his mouth to try and pull out what ever it was. The tips brushed something thin and smooth at the back of his throat. Grabbing on to it the best he could, he slowing pulled it out, bringing with it something soft and large at the end of it. When it was finally out, Jayden stared in shock as he looked down at the fully intacted flower he held in his hand.

"A gardenia, how unexpected," Heartvine said above him. Looking up, he saw the three's attention was on him and the flower he held. "It represents secret love, meaning that you must be the only one in the world who knows who you love. How lucky and unfortunate is that? In the state you're in, you probably won't even last until the night before you succumb to this." Jayden lowered his glance once more to the flower as petals filled his throat once more and a pain in his heart appeared as he thought about dying with his secret.

* * *

Just as Deker warned, Lauren was soon called for as Jayden's condition worsened. The petals he coughed up now had spots of blood on them, which meant he was in no condition to continue fighting. It was late in the day when Heartvine showed his face once more. The others looked sorrowfully at him before running off, Lauren pausing in her path to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze and the promise to defend this creature before she was gone as well. Mentor Ji wore the same sorrowfully face as the others did as he went off to begin working on dinner.

It wasn't long before Jayden couldn't stand being inside while the others were off fighting. Shouting into the kitchen to tell Ji that he was going to take a walk in the nearby area, Jayden went off, and took the gardenia flower with him.

He strolled in the woods before coming across a small cliffside that gave him the perfect view of the sunset in the distance. He took a seat on its edge and looked out to take in the surround land. He soon lowered his gaze to the flower still in the same hand he pulled it out with. His heart ached as he looked at it and thought about its meaning. Crashes in the distance tore him from his thoughts as he looked up to see that Heartvine as now a giant and facing off with the Samurai megazord. From the looks of it, Heartvine was going to be defeated for a second time very soon.

"I warned him to be careful," a voice said behind him. Turning his head to look over his shoulder, he saw that Deker, now in his human form, stood only a few feet away from him. Turning back to watch the fight before him, Jayden nodded in agreement.

"Yes you did. But if there one thing that all nighlok share, they always underestimate us rangers," he agreed in a soft voice. With a light chuckle, the sound of footsteps came closer. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Deker taking a seat beside him.

"That is something I can say we can both agree on," Deker replied, also now holding his sight on the battle fore them. It seemed that Heartvine was only moments away from defeat. "I think we can also agree that you will soon not have to worry about this spell soon enough. You will be able to fight another day." A small thought tore through the peace that sat between them.

"Agreed. Soon you won't have to worry about needing to find a new worthy opponent," Jayden frowned, saying the last two words with venom. He could see Deker turn his head to him with a considering expression on his face.

"Thats not the only thing i'm talking about, I'm also talking about the reason that flower in your hand exists," the half nighlok admitted in a neutral tone, causing Jayden to look at him completely. Taken back by the admission, he took a second to think of what to saying, trying to ignore the tickle of more gardenia petals forming in his body. As he opened his mouth to finally speak, he was stopped by the sound of explosions in the distance. The two both turned their heads to watch as Heartvine as finally destroyed once and for all. As the explosion disappeared, Jayden felt an odd tingle in his chest. Slowly, white sparkles began to bleed from his chest, and with each one appearing, he could feel himself breathing easier. He and Deker watched in silent amazement as they floated away and disappeared into the air.

"Huh," was the only thing Jayden could manage to say once they were all gone. Suddenly, Deker began to get up and walk away. Not wanting him to leave just yet, Jayden called out to him, "Deker, wait." He lifted his hand and was surprised to see the gardenia flower was still in his hand. When Deker turned back to him, Jayden was stuck trying to think of what to say. Then, looking at the flower and then back at Deker, he held it up. "Here, I don't think i need this anymore. Perhaps you can find better use for it." Deker raised his brow at this and without a word walked back to take the flower. As his pinkie brushed against Jayden's pointer finger, the flower began to give off the same light as the sparkle had. In front of the pairs very eyes, the flower changed its shape. The top of the flower thinned and grew taller. When the glowing died away, Jayden could see there were now light green buds lining the sides of the stem in the center. Jayden slipped his hand away as Deker pulled the newly formed plant towards himself. Giving the ranger one more look, Deker turned and began to leave. Jayden called out once more to say, "Deker? Happy Valentine's Day." the half-nighlok looked at him once more and nodded, before disappearing into the woods before him.

Turning back to take in the last wisps of the sun's light, Jayden smiled as he feel as though much weight had lifted from his shoulders.

* * *

Long after he returned home and enjoyed dinner with the others, a thought popped into his head as he was readying for bed. Opening up his laptop, he began his search. With in minutes, he found what he was looking for. Upon looking at pictures of plants similar to the one Deker now held and seeing the words "returned love", a smile appeared on his face, knowing that love was not truly out of the picture for him after all.

* * *

A/N: One day, i will have these two properly kiss, not just have implied feelings or a hinted at kiss. But one day is not today sadly.

Btw, the flower the gardenia turned into is called an ambrosia flower, which represents returned love obviously.

Hope you guys liked the story. Maybe leave me review, even if you didn't.


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